


Escape Clause

by orange_8_hands



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Forced military service, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced War Crimes, Jesse Manes' A+ Parenting, Jim Valenti is a War Crime, Jim Valenti's A+ Sheriffing, Post-Episode: s02e01 Stay (I Missed You), Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:53:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orange_8_hands/pseuds/orange_8_hands
Summary: Alex and Jim have a conversation. After that, Jim and Kyle have one. Years later, Kyle and Alex have one.It's all very civilized; there's only a little blood.
Relationships: Alex Manes & Jim Valenti, Alex Manes & Kyle Valenti, Jim Valenti & Kyle Valenti
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	Escape Clause

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I wrote the first two parts back in like Nov? Could not get the third part to work until after I watched 2.1 so finally posting. 
> 
> 2\. Alex kept in touch with Jim during his deployments. Alex likes Jim. Alex has very low standards for his parental figures. Jim is a very shitty human being, though Alex is only the tip of that particular iceberg.
> 
> tw: cops not doing their jobs; implied/referenced child abuse, war crimes, suicide, forced military joining, and homophobia/bullying

"How you doing, kid?" Jim asks, lowering himself gently on the side of the hospital bed. Alex does his usual pull-push with his body, shivering forwards and backwards and then forwards once it registers its just Jim. It's like fight or flight, only in one minute twitch. He's seen it before, of course, but Alex always does it in reverse of everyone else. Even Jesse wasn't like that, when they were younger and it was Harlan.

"I'm ok," Alex says. He's not lying, the nurse has him on some good shit. "Just a broken wrist." He holds his arm up, the left one, cast in a dark red. One of his brother's has already drawn a crude stick figure on it. "Cast comes off in six weeks."

"Good to hear." Jim pulls out a sharpie, waves it in front of Alex's face. "You mind if I sign it? I'll leave room for Kyle."

Something comes and goes on Alex's face when he mentions his son. Jim keeps the sigh to himself. "Sure," Alex says, and offers his hand. Jim bends over it slightly, trying to draw his own hat. His brother's drawing is at a weird angle, the boobs exaggerated. It must have been Rob, even though he should know better; Flint would sooner draw a gun and there's no way JJ would lower himself to draw on his kid brother's cast, not that he was still around. He tries to add some shading, but it kind of ends up looking like a blob with a mustache.

"So your dad says you were skateboarding," Jim finally says, leaning back and capping his pen. "I told you to stop doing that trick down the stairs, Alex."

Alex looks at him. He looks angry, but half the time Jim sees him he looks angry. Not right for a kid, but Jim's seen true horror at this point. He's usually the one closing the cell door on it. "I wasn't going down the stairs."

"I'll talk to your dad. But you gotta stop putting yourself in those situations. I worry about you, kid. Come over this weekend, okay, you and Kyle can have a sleepover. Give your dad a break."

Alex fidgets. "Did the nurse call you?"

"Yeah."

"She wasn't supposed to. It was a skateboarding accident."

"I know. She was just worried about you. I'll talk to your dad. It's Thursday. Come over for the whole weekend. I'll even let you and Kyle watch that dumbass movie again."

Alex smiles at that. "It's not dumbass, it's _amazing_."

Jim snorts, rubs his hand over Alex's hair. "Amazingly dumb. But I promise I'll distract Mrs.Valenti and you guys can watch it in peace."

"Ewww." Jim lets out an honest laugh. This kid. "I'm young and impressionable, you can't say that shit to me."

"Don't swear."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll clear it with your dad," Jim repeats. "You get released, he'll feed you jell-o for dinner, and then you get a weekend of Mrs.Valenti's cooking. Not bad, right?"

"Right," Alex says. Jim ignores the hesitation.

"Ok, sit tight. And remind me to tell Rob about what an appropriate drawing is next time I see him, ok?"

Alex face contorts. "Rob ships out soon."

Jim pauses, halfway to getting up, and sinks back down. "I didn't realize that was happening yet."

"Yeah."

Jim frowns. Alex doesn't hold his gaze. "Well, I know he was planning to. Like JJ."

"And Flint," Alex says, voice soft.

"Guess you'll be the only Manes to escape the military, huh?"

Alex looks at him. Jim nods his head.

"Yeah," Alex says again, but the disbelief in his voice was easy to read; he was kind of a shit liar.

"What is it this week? Sports medicine? We'll get you into college for that."

"Dad-"

Jim interrupts him. "I'll talk to your dad, when the time is right. Ok?" He ruffles Alex's hair again. "Until then, do your best to stay out of trouble. No more skateboarding down stairs."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay." He gets up. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Thanks, Sheriff."

"No problem, kid."

~

It's after nine by the time he gets home. Michelle left him a plate of food in the fridge. He can hear Kyle holler-singing from the bathroom, so he probably has a good twenty minutes before Kyle notices his old man is home. He has no clue where the kid gets it from; Michelle takes even quicker showers than he does.

He eats slowly, trying to put all his notes down. Michelle walks past him but says nothing, and Jim tries not to let that distract him. Lorna was a stupid, stupid thing to do, but he doesn't have time to play out that fight at the moment. Alex coming over this weekend will mean it can keep a few more days. He circles some of the facts he needs to double-check, finishes writing out his to-do list for tomorrow. He'll need to catch Rob sometime before next week, if only to say good-bye to the kid. It seems like a week ago it was JJ. Soon it'll be Flint, because if he's only going to get one of the Manes boys away it'll be Alex, and he feels bad but he always liked Alex best and his leverage over Jesse will only work once. He doesn't remember when compromise became the name of the game, but it did; maybe the first time he didn't punch Jesse straight in the fucking face after showing him Caulfield.

He gets his notebook put away and starts washing his plate by the time he hears Kyle thundering down the stairs, and braces his body for impact. Kyle collides with his side, hugging him.

"Hi Dad," Kyle says, holding onto his belt and leaning backwards.

He flicks water on Kyle's face, watches him scrunch up in hilarious offense. "Hi, son."

"I _just_ showered," Kyle groans, releasing him to grab the bottom of his shirt to dry his face.

"I know. The water bill has a small note reminding me about the drought every month."

"Not funny," Kyle says.

"A little funny," Jim says, then relents. He can't believe he has a kid that pouts; Michelle would sooner rip her lips off than do that, but apparently it's adorable (hilarious) on her flesh and blood, and so Kyle thinks he can get away with it. "Hey, I got news. Take a seat."

"With ice cream?" Kyle asks. 

Jim heaves a sigh, but waves his hand. Kyle whoops and gets the bowls and spoons. He keeps it to one large scoop because he can feel Michelle's laser eyes through the walls; besides, if Alex is here for the whole weekend it's gonna be half home cooked meals and half junk food central, and he should probably do what he can to limit his child's sugar intake.

Kyle descends on the bowl like locust. Jim takes it slower, but let's himself enjoy a few spoonfuls before nudging Kyle with his foot. "Hey, so I wanted to let you know. Alex is going to spend the weekend with us."

Kyle smiles, but it's different from how he used to greet this kind of news. No more running around screaming with joy, that's for sure. It doesn't really matter, because after a few hours the two act like the best of friends again, but the start of middle school has been bringing in a lot of changes. (The showers, for one; Jim knows exactly what those long ones are for, but he's doing his best to pretend otherwise.) 

"Danny's dad doesn't make him play dates," Kyle finally says, whine very much at odds with trying to make a statement about his supposed maturity.

"Danny's dad can barely use a phone," Jim says. Kyle giggles. "Come on Kyle. I saw Alex at the hospital and it seemed like he could use a pick me up. You guys'll have fun."

Like he thought, Kyle gets distracted. "He was in the hospital? Is he ok?"

"Yeah, he's fine. Little skateboarding accident, he broke his wrist."

"That sucks."

"That it does." He debates his next sentence, but maybe it'll help later on. "He could use a break from his dad and his brothers while he's healing up. And you haven't been totally horrible, so I figure you deserve to have a friend over."

"I'm a dream, Dad, I heard Mom say so."

"She meant one of those dreams where you stand in front of a classroom naked."

"Dad! Ugh!"

"Haven't had that one yet then?" Jim chuckles. "Wait until high school, you can have it weekly."

"Dad!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm terrible. Here, wash the dishes."

Kyle grumbles (Jim swears he can feel the encroaching teenage years like a bad premonition; maybe Mimi cursed him) but grabs the bowls and drops them into the water-filled sink Jim left from his dinner dishes. He squirts some soap on the sponge and starts to wash them. Jim just stretches out at the kitchen table, watching him. Sometimes, during the most mundane tasks, he can't help but remember when Kyle was just born and being put in his arms. A miracle, between one blink and the next. One look at him, and it makes everything else he's seen recede like its just a bad movie.

"Ow," Kyle suddenly says, and Jim reacts before conscious thought takes place. He has Kyle's hand in his own and is inspecting the small cut before he realizes what happened.

"Shit, I'm sorry." He cups the back of Kyle's neck. "I left the knife from dinner in the water and didn't warn you."

Kyle shrugs carelessly, watching Jim press the towel onto the cut. "It's ok. Barely hurts."

"Ok, wash your hands with soap. I'll get the first aid kit."

It only takes a few moments to lay on some antiseptic and bandage it with Kyle watching. "I'm sorry, Magoo."

"It's ok, Dad." Kyle smiles brightly. "It does mean you have to finish the dishes though."

Jim rolls his eyes. This kid. There's the knife and maybe one spoon left. "Alright, lazy bones. Get upstairs so your mom can fuss over you before bed. I love you."

"Love you too."

~

"Still not a murderer," Kyle tells him a few days after the body snatching. He tracked Alex down to his house, immediately hijacking his kitchen to make them tea. Alex was getting used to the way cocky dickbag has turned surface on Kyle, and that underneath was apparently a caring set of mother hen instincts Alex honestly finds more unsettling. "I need a long term plan here, Manes." 

For a code-breaker, Alex has never really been good at thinking outside of the box. It wouldn't have occurred to him to turn his father into a coma patient, but he likes the elegance of it, the relief. Not dead, but not alive either. Schrödinger's cat, except Alex gets to control what comes out of the box. A part of him keeps hoping the coma turns organic, saving him from the next step of what to do. 

"I am," he finally offers, rotating the mug in his hands. It's warm, if nothing else. "Because of him, actually."

Kyle's face tilts downwards for him. Alex wants to be irritated by that, but he just keeps getting caught on baffled; it's like being kids again, when Kyle cared about him, still got sad when he broke an arm. He's spent more time with Kyle than anybody else since aliens got added to his knowledge base, but that's a common goal. Kyle offering to get drinks and bringing by food and digging his fingers into Alex's shoulder as he told him about Rosa... Alex isn't stupid, he can see Kyle is making an effort, that he's being genuine in his friendliness. High school was ten years to the left, he said it himself, but still Alex keeps getting waylaid by it.

"You know," Kyle finally says, "I never got why you joined. I mean, you seemed to be really rocking the emo musician thing, and then all of a sudden my dad is telling me you joined the Air Force." He frowns. "He was real sad about it, too. I guess I didn't realize how much you guys still talked after I became a raging dickhead to you."

Alex pauses. "Yeah he, he didn't want me to join." 

"Yeah, that was surprising too. I wouldn't think he was against it." 

"He wasn't. Not in general. He just," Alex doesn't even know how to explain it. He doesn't particularly want to, but Kyle put his dad in a coma because Alex didn't take care of the problem well enough in the first place, and Alex feels that debt. He's not oblivious to how much Kyle hates everything he's learned about who his dad really was; unlike Alex about his dad, he actually had good expectations. "He knew I didn't want to. He thought he failed me."

He can feel the way Kyle focuses in on him. Listening with his body, one of his instructors told him. Kyle is intense in the way Liz is; that desire to do good, to be of help. The practiced kindness of someone who very often asks, where does it hurt.

"My dad," Alex starts, and then drops that line. They sent him to mental therapy too, after his leg, but he never made that much progress beyond saying _my dad was a homophobic, abusive monster_ before he choked on the details, and he'd already told Kyle that. "It was understood I would join. That was his plan for all of us. We were expected to get in line." His mouth shapes the bitterness Flint brought back up. "Follow orders. Jim knew I didn't want to." Alex remembers learning he was gay from his dad and then the boys in school, getting called names and getting bloodied for it before he even recognized the feelings. He remembers being scared shitless of the idea of basic training. He never understood how everyone just _knew_ , about him. Didn't know how to hide it when everyone could tell. And then the shed, and then it stopped mattering. "He knew, and he was going to get me out."

He goes silent, and Kyle - almost surprisingly - waits for him. It shouldn't be this hard. Words shouldn't be so hard, but they always were; he can give commands without a problem, but that didn't involve trying to expose what always seemed so easily seen, and just as easily ignored. Like the scars of him were as visible as his missing leg. Like they didn't matter. Alex keeps waiting to get over his childhood, and the Roswell air isn't helping make that possible. 

"I fucked it up," he finally says. It's easiest just to bring it down to the basics. It's the truth, anyways. "There was nothing he could do, and... fuck, I didn't even care. I wanted to join at that point."

Alex never had a problem looking someone in the eye. Not even when shame crawled across his body like ants. "I was desperate, and he saw that, and he was going to help. He wasn't just Caulfield." Alex says it because it was true. He says it because he needs it to be true. Jim and him really aren't so different; just the soil they kept their silence on, and the people they did it to. "He was good to me. He was good to you."

Alex has finished running marathons less exhausted. "Give me another day," he says to Kyle. He gets up and put both their mugs in the sink. "I'll come up with something else."

"Alex," Kyle finally says. Alex turns and leans against the sink. His leg aches. His back aches. Sometimes, if he thinks deeply enough about being a teenager, his throat aches. He waits, watches Kyle's face twist as he searches for words. "Thank you, for telling me. For wanting to defend my dad."

He can read the _but_ in the lines of Kyle's body, the turn of his mouth. Then Kyle deflates, all at once, and Alex releases the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"One more day," Kyle finally agrees.


End file.
